IGN Comics: Marvel also announced that Marco Checchetto will be your artistic collaborator on this series. Checchetto's darker sensibilities as an artist seem like a perfect fit for the world of the Punisher. How has it been working with him?

Greg Rucka: Marco has been a fantastic collaborator thus far. I'm dead in the water if I'm not getting along with the artist, because I can't draw. And nobody should ask me too. [laughs] Before Marco and I were even in communication it turned out we were on the same wave length. You know, I got my first email from him which included some photos where he said, "This is how I'm picturing things. This is how I imagine it. Just wondering what you're thinking." And everything he sent me was stuff Steve and I talked at length about, or stuff I hadn't even mentioned to Steve yet about how I wanted the book to feel and how violence should be handled. We were in the same wheelhouse right from the start, and that's a rare thing. I was excited when I saw his art, but I was much more excited when I got that email because it was very clear we were going to be able to work together. Not only were we on the same page, but we were on the same word.

IGN Comics: You mentioned the violence of this book. With the Punisher MAX series, writers like Garth Ennis and Jason Aaron were able to really go nuts with whatever they wanted in that regard. For you, you're writing a mainstream Marvel book that needs to cater to a wider audience. So have you found instances where you wrote something into the book, but then had to remove it when you consider your audience?

Greg Rucka: Well, it's funny, a lot of it comes down to the art choices. There's not going to be any less violence. It's not a less violent world. Frank lost his family the same way, no matter where you're looking for that loss, whether it's in the MAX or main Marvel universe. The difference is really going to be in how we show the violence, and also in language. There is certain content issues that we're going to have to stay away from. For instance, I was looking at one of Garth's early issues of MAX and there were bullets literally vaporizing people's heads. Obviously, we're not going to be doing that. It's not going to be splatter-punk. There's not going to be entails flying about. But does that mean Frank won't necessarily strangle someone with their own entails? I'm not at liberty to talk about that. [laughs] I will say that if we decide to do that you're not going to see the panel. It will be implied. And personally, the implied violence can be much more effective than deliberately realized violence. On the prime level we have to mitigate it.

There's going to be some things that we have to be very careful about if we're going to go there. You can't talk about a child pornographer with an axe. I'm not sure there's much room to make that a Punisher plot in the mainstream universe. That doesn't mean it can't be done, I just haven't seen it. It also seems to me that it brings a different tone to the Marvel universe when you introduce things like that. And that is actually a more important point to me. Having been over at DC when Sue Dibny got raped, that one act radically changed the flavor of that entire universe. They took a genie out of a bottle that they're never going to be able to put back. So there is a level of superhero crime and real world crime that you have to be very, very careful with when they blur together.

By his nature, Frank lives very close to that line, if not on it. And that's sort of one of the reasons why he's so effortlessly fits into MAX, yet is so problematic in the mainstream Marvel universe.

But to bring this back around, comics are a medium of imagination. They require very active participation by the reader. You have to fill in the gaps and the gutters and, consequently, readers are very good at doing that. So if you build the moment correctly, then you never need to show Frank gutting a guy stem to stern. The readers will supply that for you. All I need to do is show Frank washing his very blooding hands off. Readers will then come up with a million and one reasons why his hands got that bloody.

IGN Comics: Very true. So now that you're back in the superhero game at Marvel, are there any other characters from that universe that you have your eye on to tackle next?

Greg Rucka: There's a short list, but I'm not naming any names. I always get nervous when writers go, "Well, this person is working on this thing, but I'd love to take a crack at it." It feels like they're trying to poach someone else's job. But I will say that there are Marvel characters that, should the opportunity arise, I would cheerfully jump at the chance to write. So... Punisher for now.

IGN Comics: Well, that about does it, Greg. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us about this awesome announcement. It's much appreciated.